Double murder
by Dae the Shadow
Summary: The investigation of a murder appears to be more complicated than the CSI’s originally thought. Especially after one of their own was attacked. This is my first CSI fanfiction story.
1. Chapter 1

Double murder

Double murder

Summary: The investigation of a murder appears to be more complicated than the CSI's originally thought. Especially after one of their own was attacked.

Note: This is my first CSI fanfiction story and I'm not sure I've done it well. I'll appreciate the reviews.

Horatio Caine walked out of his car, putting his sunglasses on. He stopped in front of a cute house, putting his hands at his waist. He observed the yellow tape that barriered the yard and house itself, a patrol car with the two uniformed officers chatting outside the building. With a corner of his eye he caught a sight of another car coming to stop near his hummer. Few minutes later Tim Speedle with his kit in one hand joined Horatio.

After a brief greeting the two CSI's walked toward the patrol officers.

"Good morning, sir." One of them said, turning to face Horatio. "I'm officer Milder. We got a call from neighbors an hour ago. They informed about the noise from the house that referred gunshots. We came as fast as we could, but the killer was already gone."

The three of them entered the house. By the first look nothing spoke about the occurred tragedy. The carpet on the floor was neatly swept, none of the clothes were out of order.

"The body is in the kitchen. Dr. Woods is already there."

Horatio nodded his thanks walking inside the kitchen. Speedle followed him, pausing near the kitchen door, examining what seemed to be a blooded fingerprint. Making a mental note to check it out later, he entered the kitchen. The body of a young woman dressed in the nightshirt was laying face down in a large pool of blood in the middle of the kitchen. All stuff there was massed, pieces of shuttered dishes covering the floor.

"Hi, Alexx." Speedle put his kit down, kneeling beside the ME, who was busy examining the body.

Alexx looked up, smiling warmly at him.

"Hello, Timmy. I'm almost done here. Right, sweetie? You was so desperate to run away..." She gently put the strand of hair away from the dead woman's face. "She was shot twice. From the close distance. After the autopsy I'll be able to tell more. But it looks as if she was running from her killer."

Alexx slowly stood up, taking her gloves of.

"Get pictures, Timmy. I'll go call boys. Let them take the body."

Speedle nodded, focusing his camera and taking few pictures of the body from different angles. When he was done, Tim stepped aside, letting the two man take the body out. They were familiar enough with a work, not to spoil any evidence around the victim.

"Bye, Timmy. Take care." Alexx called to Speedle. "Horatio." She nodded to the elder CSI, took her kit and left the room.

"Hey, Speed, check this out." Horatio called, examining a small hutch of ash.

"Looks like a cigarette'." Tim commented, taking few photos.

"See if you can identify this."

Speedle nodded, gathering the ash. Horatio's phone rang. After the brief chat Cain closed the phone and turned to Speedle.

"We got another crime scene. Eric is still at the court and Calleigh has a day off. I'll go check it out. So, you are on your own. When Eric is back from the court I'll call you."

Tim nodded. "I'll be fine here."

Horatio walked outside the building. For some unknown reason his heart was heavy. Putting his glasses on he got into his hummer.

XXX

"You know, Lizzy went to see the doctor yesterday." Officer Milder confirmed into his partner, sounding exited. "We'll have a boy!"

"My congratulations!" The second officer snapped his back, huge grin spreading over his face.

The conversation went on for a few more minutes, but suddenly Milder noticed something with a corner of his eye. He unholstered his gun and turned toward the house.

"I think I saw someone. I'll go and check." He slowly walked toward the corner. Taking few deep steadying breaths Milder jumped out, both hands gripping the gun tightly. He was met by the strong blow to the side of his head. Gun falling from his hands, officer Milder was out cold even before his body hit the ground.

"Sam!" His partner rushed to his aid, taking out his own gun. But he had no chance to shot as a heavy metal pipe kicked the gun out of his hands and than knocked him out.

No one saw a figure of the tall athletic man dragging two bodies away.

XXX

Unaware of the commotion outside, Speedle was examining the crime scene. He took few photos of the large pool of blood, left where the victim was laying, before taking samples. He than turned to the door, dusting the print which he had noticed earlier. It appeared to be the clear one. Nodding in satisfaction Tim walked toward his kit, bending over it, searching for the tape.

He never saw or heard the man who was stealthily entering kitchen, coming toward him with the already blooded metal pipe in his hands.

Finally sensing something amiss, Speedle straightened up, starting to turn around. That seemed to push the intruder into action. He swung his pipe bringing it down on CSI's back. Grunting in pain and surprise, Tim fell onto his knees, black spots starting to dance in front of his eyes. The second blow was aimed at his head, knocking him out. Speedle fell forward, missing the pool of drying blood by inches.

XXX

Tim opened his eyes. A headache he had never experienced before was tearing his head apart accompanied by the strong nausea. First thing he saw after being able to focus his eyes a bit, was a poll of drying blood few inches from his face. His heart pounding, Speedle tried to remember what had happened to him. Surely he felt bad, but somehow he knew that this blood didn't belong to him.

Slowly his memories were coming back, taking their places in the puzzle, enabling him to remember what had happened. He was attacked while proceeding the crime scene!

Slowly, painfully lifting his had up Tim took a look around, or at least tried to for his sight was blurred and he felt the great desire to threw up. The man, dressed in black clothes was digging through Tim's own kit, probably looking for evidences. Suppressing a groan, Speedle put his hand on the holster, trying to get the gun out. He felt his fingers trembling. Every nerve in his body was tensed, his heart beating so loud, Speedle was surprised that the other man haven't heard it. He prayed that the man wouldn't notice his movement's.

But it seemed that luck had abandoned him for the time being. The attacker chose that moment to turn around. For a moment their eyes locked and then the stranger stormed up to Speedle. Tim doubled over from the strong kick to his ribcage, quickly followed by the one into his face. Already dizzy, Speedle tried to defend himself or at least to stay conscious, but that proved to be too much. The room was spinning around him, his vision was turning darker and darker, until he blacked out completely.

... TBC


	2. Chapter 2

Horatio stood in the middle of the hotel room, listening to what Det

Horatio stood in the middle of the hotel room, listening to what Det. Tripp had gathered from the witnesses. At the large, richly covered double-bad a body of a young woman was laying. She was dressed in a silk night-shirt. Alexx had just arrived and now was crawling near the bed, examining the body.

"Hey, H, Frank!" Delko called to the two of them, entering the room. He was dressed in a black official suit, having no opportunity to change after the court. "So, what's up?"

"Clarisse Daniels, 27 years old. Was found dead this morning."

"She was shot from close distance about 7-8 hours ago." Alexx added, coming closer. Her face was touched with concern. "I'm not sure, but I have a feeling that this case may be connected to the one that Timmy's on." She was silent for a few moments. "But I gotta go. I have two autopsies to perform. Gentlemen..."

She nodded to them, gathered her kit and left the room.

"Eric, start processing the scene." Horatio said quietly. "Frank, go talk to witnesses. I'll join you shortly."

Tripp nodded, closed his notebook and left the room. Delko put his kit down and was looking through it, deciding where to start from. Horatio gave the room one final glance, ready to join Tripp. But suddenly a small object caught his attention. Caine came closer and squat down, examining the small and very familiar pile of ash on the smooth carpet under the window.

"Eric!" He called, rising his voice from the usual quiet tone.

Delko stepped to him, startled by the Caine's slightly concerned voice.

"Take this samples. Alexx might have been right after all."

He left the younger CSI work and dialed Tim's number. The concern he felt leaving Speedle earlier that morning was starting to come back. Seconds were passing by but there was no reply from Tim's phone. Horatio tried few more times, unsuccessfully. Finally, he closed his phone and turned to meet Delko's worried gaze.

"Get to work, Eric." Horatio said in a firm but calm voice. "And call Calleigh. I know it's her day off, but we would need more hands on this case. I'll go check on Speed."

With that he exited the room, leaving Delko to proceed the crime scene.

XXX

This time Tim couldn't tell that he was fully awake. More like semi-conscious. His whole body was hurting, the pain clouding his vision, covering the brain like a blood-thirst vampire would cradle a long time waited victim. Through his daze he heard noises. Something being moved, crashed... The noise was painfully turning from the dull and distant to the sharp and loud. As if his mind was swimming in some kind of a personal hell. Than he felt his own body moving. He was rolled face down and dragged. He couldn't suppress a moan from the agony he felt. His face was laying on something sticky. His brain registered the sweet metallic taste but wasn't able to recognize it. He tried to lift his head, to get away from the unpleasant touch, but his strength were faint. Then he felt something kicking at his side. If he had any strength left, he would have screamed, for the kick brought the pain to a new level. But he had no, and so he just blacked out.

XXX

Horatio stopped his hummer and walked out of it, looking around. The deafening silence met him. The police car as well as Speedle's were still there, but no one was around. Caine slowly and carefully moved toward the house. His trained eyes caught the drops of blood and the trail of something heavy been dragged. Taking his gun out, Horatio called for back up and followed the tracks. He walked into the back yard, stopping near the small shed. With a great caution he opened the door. And stared in shock at the two police officers, tied up and knocked out, laying among the different tools and paint cans.

Officer Milder started to stir, groaning from the pain of his head wound. Horatio quickly freed him and helped into the full consciousness. The wound didn't look life-threatening, just painful.

"Can you wait here?" Horatio asked urgently, freeing the second policeman. "I need to check on my man inside."

Milder nodded, wincing at the increasing headache, awoken by the move. His thoughts processes were still slower than usual, but the memories of the attack were coming back.

Horatio wished he could do more to help the officers, but right now his main concern was Speedle's wellbeing. Caine was pretty sure that the attacker was their murderer or his accomplice. And that meant that Tim was inside the house with a potential killer... Didn't seem to be good. Not good at all.

Horatio reported the situation and asked for paramedics. Then he slowly approached the door. No sound was coming from inside, the building seemed to be dead. Knowing he should better wait for back up, Horatio opened the door. He couldn't spare the time a swat team needed to get there. Ready to fire at any moment, Caine stepped inside the house and moved toward the kitchen. He started to suspect that the intruder had already left, but he was too experienced to give in to this thoughts.

The kitchen was empty. Well at least the intruder wasn't there any more. Speedle was laying face down at the floor, placed exactly like the victim was. His kit was turned, all the stuff thrown out chaotically.

Horatio felt his heart dropping. Keeping his eyes on the door, Caine moved toward the CSI and put two fingers to Speedle's neck. A wave of strong relief washed over him. The pulse wasn't strong, but it was steady. He heard the sound of the approaching sirens. Few cars stopped sharply near the house.

"Caine! Are you there?" Horatio heard Tripp's voice.

"In the kitchen!" He yelled back.

As the police rushed into the house, Horatio put away his gun, being able to finally concentrate on Speedle. He rolled a young man onto the back. Caine winced at the sight. Tim had the dead woman's blood covering his front body, mixing with his own.

"What the hell had happened here?!" Tripp asked coming into the kitchen. He froze seeing Speedle's body.

Tim indeed looked no better than their usual victims. His face was a bloody mass, his nose obviously broken. The left side of his face started to swell.

"D-does he live?" Frank asked softly, coming closer.

"Yes. But let the paramedics check him." Horatio said, not even looking into Tripp's direction. "And there are two officers in the back-yard. They were both knocked out."

Frank nodded and left the kitchen, starting to give orders to his men.

Speedle gave a low moan, his eyes stirred but failed to open.

"Speed?" Horatio called, putting a hand at the CSI's cheek to give him comfort. "Come on, buddy. You need to wake up."

"H-Horatio?.." Speed managed to asked before the violent coughs started to shake his body.

He wanted to scream in agony that ran through his torso, stealing the breath away. But he had no air left for that. He couldn't hear Horatio's soothing words, all sounds that left were those of his blood beating in his ears. Finally the coughs were gone and he was able to suck some air in.

Than his world spin. Voices, shouts, many hands grabbing him, checking his pulse, lifting his eyelids, moving down his ribcage. It was all happening too fast for him and the world started to fade into black again. The last thing he heard was Horatio's strangely clear voice.

"We'll find that guy, Speed. I promise we will."

And Tim knew they would...

...TBC


	3. Chapter 3

"Hi, Calleigh!" Eric smiled to a shorter blond woman who entered the hotel room. "Sorry that we had to spoil your day off."

"Doesn't meter now." Calleigh sighed, setting her kit next to Delko's and putting her gloves on. "Although with that huge grin of yours, you don't look like someone too embarrassed." She gave him a light shove at the shoulder, but get serious again. "So, what's the case about?"

"To be short, we have a female DB, cocasion, shot from the close distance." He sighed and closed his eyes in frustration, throving his flesh-light into the kit non-gently. "And all I found this far is a small pile of ash, probably from a cigar or cigarette."

"There's more to it." Calleigh frowned, sensing Eric's faul mood behind his usual cheerful appearance. "What happened? Are you fine?"

"Oh, yeah. It's just…"

Eric was about to tell her about Alexx suspicions and Tim's disappearance, but he didn't get a chance to finish. His phone started to ring, braking the conversation. Delko looked at the screne and suddenly got strangely nervous, a funny feeling setting in his stomac. He answered it, dreading what he would hear.

Calleigh watched him closely, her frown deepening as Delko's expression changed from nervous to almost horrified. She knew something wasn't right, but she had no idea what it was. Suppressing the desire to yell for explanation, she just waited pationately for the other csi to finish the talk. Eric slowly closed the phone and swallowed hard, his face grim and raged.

"What's up?" Calleigh asked, unable to stand the lack of information any longer. "Eric? Who was that?"

"Um… Horatio." Eric blinked, turning his attention to the blond woman. "He wants you at the earlier crime scene. As soon as possible."

"I though that was Speedle's case." Calleigh shock her head slightly, even more confused than before, and slightly disturbed. "What's going on?"

"Someone broke into the house. Knocked out two officers and beated the hell out of Speed." Eric's hands bolted into fists, his anger obvious. "Horatio is on his way to hospital to check on him. He'll meet with us later at the lab."

"Then I'll better be going." Calleigh said in a soft, but cold tone of voice, hiding her concerns and fears behind it.

She grabbed her kit and left the room, leaving Delko to finish processing the crime scene with even greater determination on his face than before.

XXX

Horatio was standing in the corridor, his hands on his hips. He was seemingly calm, looking as if his mind was far away. Apparently it was. Horatio Caine was known for his protectiveness towrd his subordinates, his family. And now he was here, at the hospital corridor, his hands still stained with blood. It was hard to accept that he had left Speedle at the seemingly safe crime scene only to find him roughly an hour later, badly beaten.

"Are you here for Mr. Speedle?" A tired looking woman in her mid-fifties came out the closed doors.

"Yes. Horatio Caine, his surpervisor." Horatio snapped out of his dazed thoughts and turned toward the woman.

"I'm doctor Staller. Mr. Speedle will be fine in a few days. He got a concussion, but thabkfully there's no damage to the skull bones, badly bruised ribs, three of them are cracked, and some minor swelling around left kidney. His injuries are rather painful, but not life-threatening. I'd like to keep an eye on him for a day or two in order to dismiss any possible complications. After that he can be released."

"Is he awake?" Horatio asked, slightly relieved that Speed's life was out of danger.

"No. He's under sedatives. I expect him to come around in no less than two hours."

"Thank you, doctor."

Doctor Staller nodded and horried down the corridor, responding to a new request of her assistance. Horatio left unmoving for a few more minutes, just staring at the closed doors. Finally he turned around and left the hospital, deciding to check on his team's progress before coming back to hear what Speedle could tell him.

XXX

Horatio walked into the observation room. For a few minutes he just stood there and watched Alexx working on the dead body of the woman from the first crime scene.

"How's Timmy?" Alexx asked, looking up suddenly.

Horatio wasn't startled, knowing his team far too good. He smiled sadly, approaching the medical expert. Alexx couldn't hide the motherly concern in her voice, not that she tried to anyway.

"He'll be fine. It's mostly cuts and bruises."

"Thank God to that." Alexx breathed a sigh of reliefe. "You know, when I heard about the attack, I thought I'd go crazy."

Horatio smiled again. One can get a bit jealous about how a person could transform such a wide specter of emotions into a simple smile… Caine knew that Alexx, having kids on her own and meeting with death every single day, was even more parent-like toward the younger member's of the csi little family, than he himself was. And it was no wonder that Alexx was worried sick, anxious to know any news on Speedle.

"I'll be returning into the hospital soon." Horatio informed her. "Speed might have seen the attacker. That would be a great help to us."

"I'll stop by and check on him on my back home." Alexx promised and continued, redirecting her attention toward the body beside her. "About your victims. They both were shot from the close distance, by the gun of the same caliber. Bullets are waiting for Calleigh at the lab. The first victim was shot twice from the back. One bullet pierced her heart and went into the ribcage, where it stuck. The other one pierced her left lung. I can presume that the killer missed the moving target and shot her in the back and than finished, when she fell."

"Tripp found her name. That's Melissa Trage. She was a secretary in the local company, specialized on selling jewelry." Horatio informed, his arms in his pockets, and eyes at the victim, but not actually seeing the dead woman. He told it more to himself than to the ME.

"Melissa, so that's your name, sweetie?" Alexx brushed the woman's hair tenderly. "Too young to die."

"What about the other woman?" Horatio asked, looking at the next body. We still aren't able to identify her."

"She was shot once. Probably in her sleep. Apart from that – nothing. No signs of struggle, no sexual activity in the last few days of her life."

"Thanks Alexx. Let me know if you find anything new."

Horatio smiled reassuringly and slowly walked out the morgue. He hurried away as a sudden thought struck him: if Tim saw his attacker, he might be in danger. The man who shot two women didn't look like the one, who'll leave them with an eye-witness.

TBC…

Note: Sorry that it was short, delayed and a bit uneventful. I haven't write any fanfiction in a rather long time, so I wanted to post it sooner. I'm writing the next chapter, so I don't think it will take long to post it.


	4. Chapter 4

Calleigh walked into the kitchen, her movements a bit reluctant but controlled

Calleigh walked into the kitchen, her movements a bit reluctant but controlled. She knew better than to let her emotions interfere with her job. But a creepy feeling did settled in the pit of her stomach, sending shivers up and down her spine once in a while. She found it rather uncomfortable to look at the now double crime scene and let none of her emotions surfaced.

Nothing was touched since the paramedics took Speedle away. His kit was opened, all things massed. Now, even if they would find who the killer was, it would be harder to get him punished, for most of the stuff, gathered by Tim was officially compromised. To the court it didn't meter, that three officers got hurt, that their lives were endangered. Possible suspect touched collected evidence and that was what would meter. Calleigh knew that the best she could do was to find any new evidence, leading to the murderer.

The blond CSI moved toward the blood stains. She shuddered, realizing part of this blood belonged to her friend and colleague. Putting her kit down, Calleigh took one deep breath and got started. She swabbed the blood, taking as much samples as she could, praying that one of them would prove to be of an attacker. Kneeling down near the table she saw a glint of some dark object. Calleigh stretched her hand, moving careful not to touch any of the blood stains. After of few minutes she finally grabbed the object and pulled it out into the light. It was camera. Speedle's camera. So, they would at least know what he was able to find. And even if the court would prove this evidence compromised, they could lead toward the attacker and give the CSI's some useful clues.

Packing the camera, Calleigh returned to examining the floor. One spot drew her attention almost immediately. There was a partial footprint, mixture of blood and dirt. It could off course belong to a paramedic or one of the cops, but it was worse a shot.

XXX

Eric worked silently, concentration on finding any tiny clue to solve the case. For it was personal now.

The only problem he had was the fact that there were no clues. The place looked undisturbed. If not to consider a blood on the bed, off course.

Sighing, Delko moved to look through the victim's personal things. Her bags were packed, as if she wasn't planning to stay in the room for long. All clothes were clean and neatly pressed. He found the skirt and top, she was wearing the day before, in the bathroom and clean pants and blouse hanging at the back of the chair. The woman was obviously obsessed with cleaning.

Digging through the clothes Eric suddenly moved out a black wooden box. She made a few photos and opened it, praying that there would be some useful clue inside. He put out a few photos. One showed their victim in the backyard of some house with another female, both smiling happily. Another was of the same woman in the office, talking on the phone. The third showed the victim with some man, hugging.

Eric packed the photos and continued to look through the things in the bag. But no meter how hard he tried, there were nothing else inside. Nothing that could help solving the case, that is. Sighing Delko picked his kit up and walked toward the door. Maybe he'll got something useful from what little he had collected in the lab.

XXX

Speedle felt like floating, his mind too dizzy to fully comprehend where he was or what was going on. He tried to open his eyes, realizing that they were actually closed. Probably that was why it was so dark around him… The harder he tried to make his brain work properly, the faster medications were wearing off. And soon what was starting as an unpleasant ache, turned into an increasing pain. Tim shifted, moaning slightly, his eyes succeeding to open half way, only to make Speedle close them again, for everything around him was spinning in a crazy dance. He felt his stomach turning upside down, threatening to place him into even more miserable position.

Gathering his hazy thoughts, Speedle tried hard to remember what had befallen him. Ok, the last completely coherent memory he had was about the crime scene. He was working in the victim's kitchen. From that moment on he had only bits of memories. He was struggling with someone and had obviously lost the fight, for the last thing he remembered was Horatio's voice through the cloud of pain.

Tim swallowed a lump in his throat. The need to know where he was now became stronger. Now, that the pain-killers were wearing off, he was able to inspect his surroundings more fully. A steady beeping to his side and the unmistakable sterile smell meant that he was in the hospital room. That also explained why he was drugged.

The simple act of remembering seemed to tire him up. To the strong ach from every spot on his upper body was added steady throbbing of his head. Tim didn't try to open his eyes any more, afraid that he would be sick the moment he succeed. Instead he tried to remain as still as possible, hoping for the pain to reduce. But that wasn't happening.

A sound of the door being opened and the someone's skulking footsteps approaching his bed made Speedle to risk opening his eyes. After a bit of a struggle he succeeded in opening his right eye almost fully. And suddenly he wished he hadn't.

For as soon as his vision was cleared a bit, Tim found himself staring at the gunpoint.

XXX

Horatio stopped briefly near the entrance of the hospital, taking his glasses off. He entered the building and headed toward Speedle's room.

"Can I help you, sir?" A young pretty looking girl asked Horatio as the CSI came near.

"I wanted to check on one of my subordinates. Tim Speedle, he was brought here few hours ago."

The girl checked her records.

"Yes, he's here. Wait a few moments till I check if he's awake."

Horatio nodded, smiling politely to the young nurse. He watched her walking down the corridor, opening the door to Speedle's room, ready to enter. But instead of going inside and do the cheking, the girl froze in spot and screamed.

Horatio burst into action. He ran toward the door and pushed the girl aside, but all he saw was unknown man's back as the intruder jumped out of the window. Horatio instantly was near the window, but could see no one suspicious. Coursing under his breath he turned to Tim. The later was laying with his eyes closed, but Horatio was sure that younger man was awake.

The nurse was still shaken up but she managed to calm down a bit and was currently checking on the patient.

"Hey, Speed, how are you?" Caine asked, stopping few feet from the bed to give the nurse space for action.

"I ach all over and I got a bad scare right now." Tim's voice was week and a bit shaky, but his usual sarcasm was in it'd usual place.

"You need rest. I'll talk to you a bit later, ok?"

"Yeah, fine with me…" Tim mumbled.

Horatio smiled sadly and walked out of the room, leaving Speedle in the care of the doctor and nurses. He spotted the security officer.

"Keep a look at this room for me, all right?" He asked the officer.

"Sure, sir."

"Thank you. And see that no one touched anything, especially near the window. I'll send a forensic to check it for prints."

The officer nodded, moving toward the room.

With that Horatio went toward the exit. He had one particular criminal to catch.

TBC…

Note: I'm not a medic or a forensic (that's a pity for I guess job like that would suit me), so don't judge me too harsh for the mistakes I may have made.


	5. Chapter 5

"Have you found anything?" Horatio asked walking into the lab where Delko was busy processing evidences. He watched the younger man closely, noticing weariness and strain in his features.

"Nothing yet." Eric sighed, clearly frustrated. "The ash belongs to a rather expensive sort of sigars. But it's not rare enough to determine who the killer was. I also found a bunch of photos. I'm trying to locate where they were taken and perhaps I can find something about our victim's family too."

He indicated toward the table where photos were laying, waiting to be examined.

"How's Speed?" Delko asked, looking intently at Horatio. Tim wasn't only his colleague, but also his close friend and Eric found it extremely hard to concentrate on the job while he was worried sick about the other CSI's wellbeing. He felt grateful that Calleigh was the one proceeding the first crime scene. For he surely wouldn't be able to hold his emotions under control well enough.

"Eric, he was attacked at the hospital. The guy got away."

Horatio looked up, observing Delko's reaction. Eric's face paled, the expression of horror and shock clearly visible on it.

"Was… was he harmed?" He asked, almost fearing the answer.

"No. He'll be fine." Horatio said, coming toward the table and taking one of the photos. "I'm sure that Speed had seen him. That's why the guy tried to kill him. Tripp had already sent few officers there in case the guy returns. I want you to go check the room when you are done here. And also proceed Speed. Try to get a description of his attacker. The sooner we caught him, the better."

"Yeah, sure." Delko looked around. "I'll go there right now. I'm done with this ash and I think that what Speed can tell us is of more help than this photos. I can look through them when I'm back."

He started to pack the evidences, intending to proceed them later. But the look on Horatio's face stopped him.

"Eric." Horatio's voice changed as always when he was about to tell something important. "I guess Alexx was right from the very beginning." He put a photo of two women on the table in front of Delko. "That's Melissa Trage and Clarisse Daniels."

XXX

This time Tim wasn't as disoriented as the last time he was waking up. He just lay silently for another few minutes, waiting for the sleep to wear off a bit. He felt rather ashamed to be afraid to open his eyes, but after all he had every right to be. The picture of a guy pointing a gun to his head was too bright to be soon forgotten. Speedle flinched slightly as the unpleasant memories of both attacks came back to him.

As before, the more his was waking up, the sooner pain-killers were waring off, brining back dull aching pain. To find some distraction from his current miserable state, Tim decided to concentrate on his surrounding.

And almost immediately he became aware of someone's presence in the room. Small careful sounds to his left indicated that someone was there involved in some sort of activity, but doing it silent enough not to wake him. A CSI mind finally took charge of his brain and he got curious about what was going on. Risking to crack his eyes open a bit Tim took a look around the room. He still was a bit dazed from the medication and his left eye was swelled shut. But after a couple of a long minutes he recognized Delko.

Eric was buisy working near the window, taking fingerprints and swabs.

"Hi." Speedle said quietly.

Delko almost jumped, unprepared for the distraction. But when he turned, his face was slowly drowning in a large relieved smile.

"Hey, nice to see you awake."

He came closer, paking the samples of dirt from the boot-print he found right underneath the window.

"How's you doing?"

"I think I've been better." Tim replied, sighing and wincing from the pain in his chest.

"You gave us all quite a scare."

"Sorry. I'll ask the criminal to phone me nest time, so that I would be able to get out the way in time…"

Eric smiled at the sarcasm in his friend's voice. That had to be a good sign, he thought.

"So, are there any luck with a case?" Tim asked motioning toward Eric's kit.

"Not much. We found that both victims were connected. But we aren't sure how exactly." Delko sat at the chair next to Tim's bed. "I don't think that it's good idea for you to worry about the case right now."

"I guess so." Tim sighed wearily.

"Look, Horatio thinks you saw our suspect. Is it so?"

"Yeah. I had better sights in my life though." Speedle tried to smile. "He's tall, athletic, short dark hair, grey eyes. He's caucasian, but very tanned as a man who spends much time outside. But no special features I can think of."

Tim took a long breath, a bit tired after the long speech.

"You did well." Eric assured him. "I'm sure we'll get him. I need to search you for evidence, if you don't mind."

"I know you have to. Go on then. But there isn't much to find."

Delko nodded, returning to his kit. He needed to make photos of Speed's injuries, swab under his nails. And hope that there would be at list tiny thread to whom the murderer is.

XXX

"So, what do we have?" Horatio asked, looking over his team.

"Clarisse Daniels, or Clare Trage is Melissa's sister. Tripp asked Melissa's neighbors and co-workers. They said she indeed had a sister." Calleigh took some papers from the folder. "Their parents had died five years ago and they had no other family."

"I found a couple of photos which were partially burned. By the traces of fire I presume that someone intentionally destroyed all photos with some person on it." Eric said, pouring himself a cup of foully tasted coffee.

"And we also know what our suspect looks like." Horatio added, thinking.

"There was something else." Alexx took some photos from the case folder. "A mark from the ring on Clarisse's finger. It was tiny, almost invisible. I think she was married, probably divorced. And by the look of those marks, she must be married for a short amount of time. She changed her name, was staying in the hotel room, burned someone out of her photos… It's only my opinion, but she was running from someone."

"So, let's find her husband and look what he can tell us." Horatio concluded, looking them all over.

… TBC


End file.
